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TOUCHIXG THE RELATIONS i^ETWEEN THE UNITED 
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WASHINGTON CITY : 

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TOUCniXG THE RELATIONS liETWEEN THE UNITED STATES 
AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 






WASHINGTOxNT CITY : 

rJn.uias McGill &• Co., rrinUrs and SUreofi/pn: 
1877. 





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To the Senate and House of Representatives: 

The anomalous condition of affairs in the District of Colum- 
bia, affecting most injuriously the fortunes and happiness of 
its citizens, has induced a voluntary association of tax-payers, 
for the purpose of soliciting from the Congress of the United 
States such remedial and beneficial legislation as may l)e just 
and expedient. They appeal to Congress, because the Federal 
Constitution has invested that body with supreme and exclus- 
ive legislative power in this District — with the same absolute 
control and authoritj' as it exercises over the National forts, 
arsenals, magazines, and navy-yards — and it is, therefore, to 
the beneficent exercise of this plenary authority alone, that 
they can look for relief. 

This association of tax-payers, known as " The Committee 
of 100," initiated their proceedings by the appointment of 
various sub-committees, for the purpose of obtaining such 
special and reliable information in the several departments 
of local administration as will furnish a proper basis and 
guide for the relief and legislation which they ask of Con- 
gress. These committees, composed of citizens familiar with 
the operations of the departments severally assigned to them, 
have reported ; and we are charged by the associaiion with 
the dutv of huins; before Cono^ress a condensed statement of 
the material fiicts contained in these reports, together with 
such additional information as we may be able to present. 

Improvements of Streets, &c. 

The present site of the city of "Washington, embracing an 
area of 7,161 acres, was, on 29th June, 1791, conveyed ])y 
Daniel Carroll and others to the United States, in trust, " to 
be h\id out for a federal city, with such streets, squares, and 
parcels, and lots as the President of the United States, for 
the time being, shall approve ; " and on the further tnist, 
that all the streets, together with such squares, parcels, and 



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lots as tlie President slioulcl select and reserve for public use, 
should be held forever, " for the use of the United States," 
the Government paying for the lands so reserved at the rate 
of £25 ($66.66) per acre ; and the residue of lots to be fairly 
and equally divided between the United States and the 
grantors. 

The lands reserved by President Washington under this 
grant aggregate 541 acres ; and thus the United States, for 
the consideration of $36,000, acquired title to 5,653 acres, or 
nearly four ffths of the entire area of the city, viz: 

Area of streets, 3,604 acres. 

" reservations, - - - - 541 " 
" lots donated, - - - - 1,508 " 



Total, - - - . 5,603 " 

It was further provided in these deeds, that the moiety of 
lots donated to the Government should be sold, and that the 
proceeds, after payment to the proprietors of the $36,000 due 
for the reservations, should be held by the United States as 
a *' grant of money," to be applied toward the erection of the 
public buildings, &c, under the act of Congress of 16th July, 
1790, for establishing the permanent seat of Government; 
and it appears that the fund derived from this gift, notwith- 
standing its improvident management, paid, not only the 
$36,000 due the proprietors, but also the cost of erecting the 
public buildings prepared for the reception of the Govern- 
ment in 1800, and of their restoration after destruction by 
the British in the war of 1812. 

It is a fact, then, that the public buildings originally pro- 
vided for the use of the Government, and the 541 acres of 
public reservations, now^ worth from $25,000,000 to $30,- 
000,000, together with all the streets and avenues of the city, 
were a free gft to the United States from the original pro- 
prietors. And the title of the Government, as ratified by the 
State of Maryland, and confirmed by the Supreme Court of 
the United States, is so complete and absolute, that Congress 
may at any time close and occupy, and even alienate, any of 



the streets, and the owners of lots affected thereby be with- 
out redress. Even the nioietj of lots which fell to the pro- 
prietors, in the division of the residue above referred to, w^as 
reconveyed to them, subject to such regulations as might be 
prescribed by the President in regard, not only to the use 
and improvement of the streets, but also to the " materials 
and manner" of the huUdbujs to be erected thereon. And 
the control of private property thus reserved wtis freely exer- 
cised by the Government in the early period of the city's 
history. 

The plan of the city, as approved by Washington, is on a 
scale of unprecedented magnificence; with streets, 90 to 160 
feet in width, covering more than half its area ; and, at the 
period of its foundation, and for many years thereafter, it was 
without population, or resources of any Idnd ; the improve- 
ment of its streets, and the building of sewers, bridges, &c., 
being the sole and exclusive care of the Government and its 
agents. It w^as not until 1812, that the Corporation of Wash- 
ington and the Levy Court of the County were authorized, to 
open and improve the streets and roads. 

From the facts here stated, it is apparent that Washington 
was projected by its founders for a purely national city, to be 
governed and improved exclusively by Congress, without re- 
gard, in a legal sense, to the voice or wishes of its citizens. 
And, although the appropriations by Congress, for general 
improvements in this District, have never been at all com- 
mensurate with the princely grant under which the Govern- 
ment now holds nearly a hundred miUions of real estate, or 
with the grand design and expectations of the founders of the 
Repubhc and of its capital, as manifested by their early acts, 
they have at all times admitted the national obligations and 
responsibilties in this regard. 

See Report of Senator Southard, 2d Feb., 1835. 
" of Senator Brown, 15th May, 1858. 
" '' of House Committee on D. of C, 13th 

May, 1872. 
" ^ House Committee on Judiciary, Ist June, 
1374 



See Report Joint Committee of Two Houses, 7th 
Dec., 1874. 
" " Joint Committee of Two Houses, 187G. 

And these various expressions by Congressional Commit- 
tees have been zealously seconded in many of the Executive 
messages to Congress. 

A careful inquiry into the comparative expenditures by 
the local and federal Governments, for streets, sewers, and 
other improvements, for the common benefit, shows, that 
while the appropriations by Congress for these objects, up to 
the present, do not exceed $6,000,000, the District Govern- 
ment has expended for the same purposes not less than 
$35,000,000 ; which sum, is represented by a debt of about 
$23,000,000, and the balance of $12,000,000 has been fur- 
nished, in cash, by the tax-payers of the District. 

It further appears, that these expenditures by the local 
Government, except $9,000,000, expended prior to 1871, were 
made, and $le5,000,000 of this oppressive debt contracted, by 
agents of the United States, over whom the citizens of the 
District had no control whatever, and for whose acts, there- 
fore, they are in no manner responsible. 

The federal property, equally with that of private owners, 
has shared the general benefit of these expenditures ; but, in 
addition to this, a large portion thereof has been expended 
in front of the various public reservations : by a single im- 
provement made recently by the District Government, viz, 
filling the canal, and improving B street, from Seventeenth 
street eastwardly, more than fifty acres of land, valued at 
^2,500,000, have been reclaimed and added to the Govern- 
ment Park fronting thereon. It is claimed that the $6,000,- 
000 of federal expenditures has not, by several millions, re- 
imbursed the local Government for improvements, by which 
the public property has been sj^ecialb/ benefited. 

As in the beginning, the Federal City was without popu- 
lation or resources to which its founders could look for its 
development and improvement, so also, at the present time, 
it is wholly without means, either of wealth or industry, to 



meet the enormous outlays, necessitated by the magnificence 
of its phm. It has no business, except ^Yhat is based on the 
wants of its citizens and of tlie Government service; one half 
of its property, and the best half, is owned by the United 
States, and pays no taxes; and the other half is now mort- 
gaged for more than o^ie/oi^r^A of its value by a debt con- 
tracted in exhausting and paralyzing efforts to make it what 
its patriotic founders designed it to be — a National Capital, 
worthy of the name it bears. Several millions of dollars 
are now^ required to renew its decayed and almost impass- 
able streets. Where shall its already over-burdened tax- 
payers look for aid and relief, except to the Congress of the 
United States. 

From the facts here presented, the inference is plain that 
the United States and our tax-paying citizens, as partners or 
tenants-in-common in this District, are bound, respectively, to 
contribute a just and equal share of the funds necessary to de- 
velop and improve the common property ; and that the United 
States, having exclusive and absolute title to the streets and 
avenues of the city, as well as to the public grounds and 
buildings, (which alone give value to the property of citi- 
zens,) and being clothed by the Constitution with plenary 
and exclusive power of control and administration, the Gov- 
ernment is under special obligations to furnish its share. 

It is equally clear, that the tax-payers of the District have 
already and uniformly contributed more than their equal share 
of these improvements. Will not the Government, with 
equal fidelity to its high trusts, discharge the obligations re- 
quired alike by its constitutional relations to the District, and 
by justice to its citizens ? 

Taxation. 

The facts before us on this important subject are briefly 
these : 

The assessment of the taxable property of the District, for 
the fiscal year ending 30th June, 1878, is — 



6 

For real estate $97,672,228 

For personal property 9,052,335 - 

Total $106,724,563 

The value of Federal property, according to assessment 
made in 1873, is, for real estate alone, $95,986,156. 

This assessment of real estate owned by individuals is be- 
lieved by the assessors to be at least twenty per cent, 
more than its actual present value ; and when this fact, in 
connection with the enormous levies of special taxes, is con- 
sidered, it may be confidently asserted that the burden of 
taxation imposed on the private property of this District is 
greater than that borne by any other community in the 
United States, while its resources, in proportion to po[tula- 
tion, are less. For it must be borne in mind that the rate of 
taxation, ($1.50 on the $100) moderate as it ma}' seem, is 
levied on less than one half of the real estate of the District, 
which is thus made to bear the burden of the whole. 

The people of this District have also, since 1863, paid into 
the Treasury of the United States, under the internal revenue 
law, $4,695,119, or more than has been paid by all the other 
territories combined — more than has been paid by the States 
of Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, or Or- 
egon. This single item of Federal taxation levied on the 
industries of our citizens has nearly reimbursed the Govern- 
ment for all of its appropriations for improvements in the 
District. 

The effects of this excessive taxation demonstrate that we 
do not exaggerate the case. 
The arrears of general taxes for 1875, 1876, and 

1877, amount to the sum of $990,253 

Arrears of person al taxes for 1 8 77 5 6 ,425 

^1,046,678 
Arreare of special taxes 2,122,866 

Total arrears $3,169,544 



It is estimated that more than hoo fifths of the entire real 
estate belonirinsr to citizens is now held hv the District of 
Colmnhia, under purchases at tax sales. A penalty of two 
per csnt. per month is running against all property in arrears 
for general taxes; and the tax-lien certificates, issued for ar- 
rears of special taxes, (a large amount of vvhich are now held 
by banks,) bear interest at the rate of ten per cent, per annum. 
And if we add to all this the expense of tax sales, and of ju- 
dicial proceedings against delinquents, it is apparent that, 
without speedy relief, the District Government will soon be 
possessed of more than half of the property of its citizens. 

For confirmation of this statement, we refer to the able 
report of the Hon A. H. Buckner, Chairman of House Com- 
mittee on the District of Columbia, made 1st July, 1876. 

The District Assessors express the opinion that the tax of 
$1.50 on the |100, levied under act of the last Congress on 
invested funds, must have a disastrous effect on the revenues 
of the District, by expelling a large amount of wealth which 
would otherwise find a home here, and thus depreciating the 
value of real estate and other taxable property. 

It takes from holders of bonds, mortgages, &c., one fourth 
of their income to pay their taxes, and thus offers a strong 
temptation to fraud and perjury. The experience here, as it 
has been in other places, demonstrates that a high tax on this 
class of property is most unequal in its operation, as well as 
impolitic and demoralizing. 

Finance and Debt. 

The Commissioners of the District estimate that an annual 
revenue of ^3,000,000 is required to meet the various ex- 
penses of local administration, interest on debt, sinking fund, 
and for improvements and repairs of streets, &c., and that 
moderate levies on the taxable property of the District may 
confidently be relied on to furnish one half of this sum, or 
$1,500,000. 

The debt of the District may be briefly stated as follows : 



8 

Old funded debt, authorized by Congress... $8,379,691 96 
Fiftj-vear bonds, 3.65, guaranteed by Con- 
gress 13,743,250 00 

Floating debt 1,014,000 00 

Total $23,136,941 96 

Charities and Penal Institutions. 

From the latest reports made bj the various charitable 
and benevolent institutions in the District which receive aid 
from Congress, it appears that f fly-eight per cent, of the bene- 
ficiaries are non-residents ; and from the report of Commis- 
sioner Luby, for the present year, we take these figures relat- 
ing to the District Almshouse and Workhouse, viz : 

Of 428 paupers admitted to the Almshouse, but 69 were 
natives of the District. 

Of 1,695 oftenders committed to the Workhouse, only 455 
were natives of the District. 

Public Schools. 

Ofiicial reports show that Avhile the rate of taxation in this 
District, for the support of Public Schools, is nearly double 
that in most of the large cities of the Union, the means of 
education are wholly inadequate to the wants of our popula- 
tion. We have expended for this object, in the last six 
years, nearly $2,400,000, and yet 104 of our schools, repre- 
senting 6,240 scholars, are compelled to occupy rented rooms, 
wholly unfitted for the purpose, and menacing to the health 
of our children. The sum of $400,000 is required to supply 
this deficiency of school buildings, and an additional appro- 
priation of $75,000 is needed to keep our schools in operation 
to the close of the present school-year. 

While all the Territories, and most of the States of the 
Union have received from Congress munificent grants of the 
public lands, in aid of education, not an acre has been granted 
to the District of Columbia— the E"ation's Capital — and the 



9 

appropriations of money by Congress for this object are insig- 
nificant. 

This injustice to the District seems the greater, when we 
consider the fact that one third of our school revenue is 
devoted to the education of colored children, invited here 
from the surrounding States by recent action of Congress, 
and whose parents as a rule pay no taxes; and that 30 per 
cent, of the white pupils in our schools are the children of 
persons connected with the pul)lic service, and who, for the 
most part, are mere sojourners and non-taxpayers. Thus, 
while the Government furnishes 60 per cent, of the bene- 
ficiaries of our schools, it throws the entire burden of their 
support on the 40 per cent, of tax-paying citizens. It is 
more than they can l)ear. 

Fire Department. 

The efficiency of this branch of local administration, so 
necessary for the protection of public as well as private 
property, is greatly impaivod by reason of insufficient appro- 
priations. The sum of $100,000 is now required to supply 
necessary apparatus, and an increased annual appropriation 
of $30,000 is needed to maintain a proper standard of effi- 
ciency. The local government is wdiolly unable to furnish 
these additional sums. 

Police. 

Sections 366, 367, 368, of the Revised Statutes, applica])Ie 
to the District of Columbia, provide for the payment bv the 
United States of two thirds of the expense of maintaining the 
police department of the District. But the last Congress, 
without changing this rule of a^jportioimient, appropriated ])ut 
S150,000, instead of $205,270, the amount required under the 
ratio established by law, and which had theretol'ore l)een aj.- 
propriated. A deficiency of $55,270 was thus created, and 
the District Commissioners being without the means to sup- 
ply this deficiency, the result has ])een, and nuist continue to 
be, a gradual diminution, instead of a gradual increase, of the 



10 

force, as required by the growtli of population and the wants 
of the service. The Government, equally with the citizens 
of the District, is benefited by the general patrol service of 
the force ; and the details for special service which it requires 
employ continuously at least one third of the entire force. 
The greater part of arrests are for violations of the United 
States laws, and the revenue derived from fines goes directly 
into the federal treasury. There seems, therefore, to be no 
sufficient reason for the reduced appropriation of last year. 

Light. 

Kearly the entire expense of lighting the cities of Wash- 
ington and Georgetown, including lamps on streets around 
the public grounds and buildings, is paid by the District Gov- 
ernment. The United States pays for no lamps, except those 
located on the public reservations. About $163,000 were 
expended for light during the past year, and of this sum the 
Government paid but |6,312.40. 

Public Health and Harbor Improvement. 

To no city in the Union is a well-regulated sanitary system 
more important than to this capital of the nation. Located, 
like most tide-water cities, in a malarial region, and the resort 
of a large transient population, from all sections of a vast and 
highly diversified country, with every variety of climate, 
Washington is peculiarly liable to epidemic visitations. And 
the fact that it is also the official residence of the chief func- 
tionaries of the Federal Government, — Executive, Legisla- 
tive, and Judicial, — and of a large number of public em- 
plo}'ees of all grades, renders its sanitary condition an 
important factor for maintaining the efficiency of the public 
service. 

Kecognizing the force of these considerations. Congress 
has already admitted its obligations in the premises, by justly 
and wisely providing, in part, for the support of the present 
Board of Health. 



11 

But there is at our doors an evil that no such organiza- 
tion can reacli, and which, if not arrested, may become a 
prohfic source of disease and death. The marshes which 
skirt the entire front of om^ city, are the growth of years 
of neglect of the commercial and sanitary interests of the na- 
tion's capital. The remedy is to be found only in a judicious 
plan of harbor improvement, by which the health and com- 
merce of the city will be alike promoted. Congress has 
lavished millions on the rivers and harbors of the country, 
in localities, too,, whose claims to national consideration are 
insigniticant as compared with Washington ; while compara- 
tively nothing has been done for the harbor of its capital, 
or for the navigation of a great river, which has capacity 
to float its navy and to sustain a vast marine commerce. 
Happily, too, in this case, the Government being owner, 
under the munificent grant before alluded to, of nearly the 
entire loater front of the city, the cost of such an improve- 
ment, though large, w^ould be more than reimbursed by the 
value of several hundred acres of land which would thereby 
be reclaimed and added to adjacent parks, and to the Arsenal 
and Navy Yard Reservations. 

Legislation. 

Having now, in obedience to our instructions, briefly 
presented such facts and considerations as affect the relations 
and duties of the Government to the District of Columbia, 
we take the lil^erty of herew^ith placing before Congress 
the form of a bill, which, if speedily enacted into law, 
will be gratefully acknowledged by our fellow citizens, and 
relieve them, in part at least, of a burden which they can no 
longer carry. We venture to aflirm, in conclusion, that the 
municipal resources of no city in the land, however rich and 
great it may be, are equal to the task of developing and 
maintaining its improvements on the scale of magnificence 
which its founders have given to the plan of this capital of a 
great nation. Surely the least that we can ask is, that Con- 
gress will share with us the burden of this common heritage. 



12 



Will they not yield ns this measure of justice ? This capital 
is the pi'operty of the nation; will not the nation uid in taking 
care of its own ? 

Kespectfully suhmitted , 



J. M. AViLSON, 

Joseph Casey, 
C. F. Peck, 
Joseph Shillington, 
S. Y. Niles, 
Josiah Dent, 
W. 8. Cox, 
C. 13. Church, 
B. G. Lovejoy, 
W. H. Clagett, 



W. W. Corcoran, 
8. H. K-auffman, 
Wm. Dixon, 
A. Y. r. Garnett, 

L. A. GOBRIGHT, 

M. W. Galt, 
A. T. Britton, 
Thos. p. Morgan, 
AYm. 8tickney, 

Committee. 



Washington, D. C, Norember 21, 1877 



Be it enadcd hj the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled. That the proper 
executive authorities of the District of Cohimbia shall, in ac- 
cordance with existing laws, estimate annually aud report 
through the Secretary of the Treasury, at the beginning of 
each session, to Congress, ihe amount necessary to defray the 
expenses and pay the accruing indebtedness of the Govern- 
ment of the District of Columbia for the next fiscal year ; 
and to the extent to which the said esthnates shall be af>- 
proved, Congress shall appropriate the amount of lifTy per 
centum thei-eof, and the remaining fifty per centum thereof 
shall be levied upon the property in said District, other than 
the property of the United States and of the District of 
Columbia, and shall be collected in the manner provided by 
law for the collection of taxes in said District. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




